Alliance Study Calls for New-Teacher Induction Programs

In September 2002, the Alliance for Excellent Education, an advocacy and policy group that works on behalf of at-risk students, released a report, Every Child a Graduate, with specific recommendations for school improvement. One of the proposed new initiatives dealt with teacher hiring and retention. The Alliance suggested financial incentives, including a federal tax credit, programs to forgive student loans, and scholarships for prospective teachers.

Now, with its New-Teacher Excellence: Retaining Our Best report, the Alliance "strongly recommends" another initiative to "complement" the financial one: new-teacher induction programs in schools and districts. There is no set formula for such programs, but they are based on support and mentoring for new teachers from veteran teachers. New teachers who feel that they have support in the classroom, not only from the district, but also from their fellow teachers, tend to be more effective and to stay longer than their counterparts who have not experienced teacher induction programs. The Alliance says that these mentoring relationships also help veteran teachers, many of whom are under considerable pressure from the demands of school reforms and the No Child Left Behind Act (for a summary and analysis of NCLB, see the ACCESS NCLB pages) feel useful and thus more content. At their best (and the report cites programs in California, Texas and Ohio), these new-teacher induction programs increase recruitment of "highly qualified" teachers, their effectiveness in the classroom, and the retention of both experienced and new teachers.

Prepared December 23, 2002